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ZERO HUNGER

Transforming evidence-based success into effective change
Full reports available from www.actionagainsthunger.org.uk

Executive summary
ACF recognises that in many countries, undernutrition is endemic. The ﬁght against undernutrition will remain relevant well into the future. Nevertheless, there are some success stories which buck the trend. This briefing brings together evidence from ﬁve such success stories – Brazil, Peru, Mozambique, Malawi and Bangladesh – and Niger, a country in which undernutrition is a persistent problem. Combined with analysis of the relevance and potential of the regional approach to the ﬁ ght against hunger evident in West Africa, the brieﬁng introduces six key success factors which have been instrumental in the ﬁght against hunger worldwide. Drawing on evidence from case studies, these key success factors are presented in turn. While each context has faced very different problems in the past and will face new challenges in future, the series argues that if the success factors are embraced by national and regional level institutions, and mechanisms are given the necessary support to be effective, real progress can be made.

Key messages
Six key success factors have been identiﬁed as creating an enabling environment which should facilitate a reduction in rates of childhood undernutrition if in place. In contexts with the most demonstrable success, all six factors have been present in varying degrees: ■ strong political will ■ civil society participation and ownership ■ a multi-sectoral approach ■ institutional coordination ■ a multi-phase approach ■ continuity of sustainable ﬁnancial investment Undernutrition persists in contexts where the emergency has long since subsided. This implies that undernutrition is not just an emergency issue; addressing it is clearly linked to poverty reduction.

Action Against Hunger | ACF International is an international humanitarian organisation committed to ending child hunger. Recognised as a leader in the ﬁght against malnutrition, ACF works to save the lives of malnourished children while providing communities with sustainable access to safe water and long-term solutions to hunger. With 30 years of expertise in emergency situations of conﬂict, natural disaster and chronic food insecurity, ACF runs life-saving programmes in some 40 countries beneﬁting nearly 5 million people each year.

Good nutrition is the foundation for human development, and nutrition must be at the forefront of all development and poverty reduction policies. Fighting undernutrition must be put at the centre of the political agenda by national governments and regional bodies such as ECOWAS. Civil society participation in decision-making and governance must be promoted in order to reinforce sustainability of interventions aiming to prevent and treat undernutrition. Tackling undernutrition requires a multi-phase and multi-sectoral approach with a combination of both short and long-term solutions across sectors to achieve impact now and in the long term.

Existing nutrition institutions must be reinforced and strengthened in order to ensure effective institutionalised coordination. Support must also be provided to existing regional institutions and mechanisms in place to ﬁght hunger; regional cooperation is integral to this. Continued, sustained ﬁnancial support is a prerequisite for the success of the ﬁght against undernutrition. Emphasis must be on maintaining food and nutrition security beyond emergency programmes and providing sustainable direct budget support to national governments.

Introduction
ACF recognises that ﬁghting undernutrition will remain a fundamental challenge well into the future. Nevertheless, some positive strides have been made, and it is essential to learn from these so that our contribution to the ﬁght against hunger builds on what has already been achieved. Drawing on evidence presented in full reports, this brieﬁng is based on the outcome of research conducted for ACF’s Zero Hunger series.1 It brings together ﬁndings from contexts which have brought down rates of undernutrition, with evidence from Niger, where undernutrition is a persistent problem. The relevance and potential of regional West African institutions in the ﬁght against hunger completes the picture. By highlighting examples of best practice and key policy required for successful nutrition outcomes, the Zero Hunger series provides important lessons for policy makers and practitioners alike. This brieﬁng is structured along the lines of the six key success factors identiﬁed during Phase 1 of the project: strong political will, civil society ownership and participation, multi-sectoral approach, institutional coordination, multi-phase approach and continued ﬁnancial support. Each factor is outlined in turn, highlighting examples from national and regional case studies. Key recommendations are then presented.

Background
The Zero Hunger Series seeks to understand why and how some countries have managed to reduce undernutrition, while others have not. Phase 1 reviewed the experience of ﬁve case study countries – Brazil, Peru, Mozambique, Malawi and Bangladesh – which have had relative success at bringing down rates of undernutrition over the past 15 years, in the quest to ﬁnd out why and how these countries have been particularly successful. By studying these successes, we can derive lessons and examples of good practice which can be implemented in other countries and regions. Phase 2 examined the extent to which six success factors identiﬁed in Phase 1 are relevant in a country where undernutrition is endemic: Niger. The case study analysed government initiatives and provides a pathway for future nutrition and development initiatives by promoting the collaboration of civil society and national governments. Phase 3 highlights the relevance and potential of regional institutions and mechanisms to reduce hunger and malnutrition in West Africa. Through regional collaboration, it is more likely that the reduction of hunger and undernutrition will be achieved across the region.

Strong political will
Wherever advances have been made in bringing down rates of undernutrition, strong political will was at the heart of such changes. Governments with the political will and a signed commitment to reduce undernutrition have put nutrition at the top of their agendas with positive results. In all ﬁve of the case study countries in Phase 1, food and nutritional security were main political priorities, leading to the development of public initiatives to speciﬁcally address hunger and poverty.

Brazil is probably the most outstanding and well known success story of the ﬁve countries examined during Phase 1. Under direct control of the President, the Food and Nutrition Security Programme (CONSEA) has contributed to a reduction in underweight rates from 13% in 1994 to 1.7% in 2006. 2 Similarly, political commitment is at the centre of advances in Malawi and Mozambique, where undernutrition rates have been brought down not least because the Presidents took a personal interest in the plight of the poor. In 2004, the government of Malawi created a department within the Presidency for nutrition and HIV, demonstrating the President’s commitment to hunger reduction. Underweight rates in Malawi decreased

from 30% in 1995 to 21% in 2006, making it one of the few countries on-track to reach its MDG commitment ahead of time in 2013 if current trends continue.3 The question is: how can political will around hunger and undernutrition be created and then maintained? How can good intentions be translated into action and positive results at the individual household level? In Niger, a country which suffers from repeated nutritional crises, a change of government following the food crisis of 2009/10 put nutrition onto the political agenda and the government recognised the importance of addressing undernutrition as a cross-cutting issue and a public health problem. That said, effective implementation of the nutrition agenda obviously depends on adequate resource allocation, which is yet to be achieved. This is compounded by the low priority given to nutrition by the Mother and Child Health Directorate, which supervises the nutrition agenda. For example, unbelievably, there was no budget allocated to nutrition for 2007, 2008, 2009 or 2010.4 Furthermore, the proportion of the health budget allocated to nutrition is not speciﬁed in the Health Development Plan, although it is planned that the Mother and Child Health Directorate will receive an average of 31% of the budget between 2010 and 2015.5 There is now momentum in Niger, which must be maintained and

supported by government and the international community to ensure it is translated into action. At the regional level, the development of the ECOWAP, the agricultural policy of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), is a breakthrough in the way West African policy makers approach hunger and undernutrition. For the ﬁrst time, countries in the region have devised a costed comprehensive action plan to accompany food and agriculture policies, with instruments and institutions to implement it. Hunger reduction is now a central policy goal for food and agriculture in West Africa, representing a fundamental policy-shift away from prioritisation of economic growth and macroeconomic stability. The Regional Initiative to Support Food from West African Ecosystems, launched in September 2009, is another example of what can be done if sufﬁcient political will exists. A regional, multi-disciplinary and multi-sectoral collaboration, it aims to ensure effective promotion of local food resources from West Africa’s traditional food systems in households, and in strategies and interventions to combat food insecurity, micronutrient deﬁciencies and diet-related chronic diseases. Despite the existence of these regional initiatives, which are supported by donors and humanitarian

organisations alike, the political commitment to combat undernutrition is still lacking in some countries in the region. This is reﬂected by the proportion of national budgets allocated to nutrition. Even in countries in which undernutrition is ﬁrmly on the political agenda, such as Niger, there is limited or no budget allocated speciﬁcally to nutrition. Government and donors need to ensure that this situation changes, by providing appropriate support to nutrition.
SUCCESS FACTOR 2

Civil society ownership and participation
Civil society ownership and participation make a signiﬁcant contribution to the development of viable and sustainable policies. Not surprisingly, community-level participation in the decision making process improves the acceptance and impact of policies. To maximise support, involvement and, indeed, ownership of policies, from their inception to implementation, is key. The ﬁght against hunger in Brazil started 30 years ago as a civil society initiative. Here, decades of pressure from populations demanding transparency and accountability led to the government opening dialogue with civil society. Civil society now participates in the formulation of policies and programmes through CONSEA. This is the most visible example of a number of initiatives promoting participatory budgets, implementing local committees and monitoring social actions. The Council takes a multi-sector and multi-stakeholder approach by integrating and coordinating all ministries concerned (social action, public health, agriculture), and has played a key role in the promotion of national policies in the ﬁght against hunger. In Bangladesh, civil society organisations from national and international NGOs to community-based organisations, UN agencies, research organisations and donors are also actively trying to improve nutrition through policy debate and as providers of social safety nets. For example, the Targeting the Ultra Poor (TUP) programme, set up by the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee and WFP to improve access to micro-ﬁnance services for the rural poor, has been particularly successful.

Although civil society organisations in Niger are young and relatively disorganised, they have evolved in recent years due to a lack of strong, grass-rooted political parties. The current government’s National Advisory Council, which consults and amends laws before they are passed, includes representatives from women’s groups and farmers’ associations and a network of health sector NGOs. The most signiﬁcant of these is ROPPA (Réseau des organisations paysannes et de producteurs de l’Afrique de l’Ouest), a network of peasant organisations and producers from ten countries in West Africa. ROPPA works to promote improvement of rural families’ livelihoods and working conditions. It perceives food sovereignty and the promotion of regional agriculture and food production as essential to ensure food security and economic development in the region. ROPPA has become increasingly active over the past decade in the West African region. It was actively involved in the design of the regional agricultural policy, ECOWAP, and has participated in a number of global conferences and meetings. Similarly, the Réseau Billital Maroobé (RBM) is formed of national pastoralist organisations from seven countries in the Sahel and aims to defend the interests of pastoralist herders and improve the management of cross-border transhumance. Networks such as these are composed of farmers and pastoralists from the region with ﬁrsthand knowledge of the problems faced by rural populations. They are therefore key actors to participate in the design of adequate food and agriculture policies and interventions in the region. While these organisations are open to partnerships with international NGOs and regional institutions such as ECOWAS, past experience calls for caution in partnership development to ensure that national member organisations do not become mere implementing partners of international organisations.
SUCCESS FACTOR 3

Multi-sector approach
Undernutrition touches upon a wide range of sectors, including health, food security, agriculture, water and sanitation, education, gender, economic and social
5

development. A child may become malnourished due to a combination of inadequate food intake, insufﬁcient access to clean drinking water or inadequate sanitation at home, which can result in disease. It is widely recognised that a multi-sector approach is essential to the success of hunger reduction strategies, so the many causes of undernutrition can be addressed. Mozambique provides a good example of the multisector approach to nutrition security. A range of stakeholders, including the government, NGOs and several civil society organisations, are involved in complementary initiatives under the overall direction of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP). The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development oversees the Food Security and Nutrition Strategy, established in 1998 and designed to improve food security by increasing agricultural productivity, road development, information systems, commercialisation, nutrition education and disease prevention and treatment. As a result of this and other initiatives, Mozambique achieved an annual rate of economic growth of 8% between 1996 and 2008.6 Underweight rates in children under ﬁve fell from 27% in 1995 to 18% in 2008, and acute malnutrition fell from 8% to 4% over the same time frame.7 Overall, the multi-sectoral approach has been adopted by major stakeholders in Niger. On paper, health policy appears quite well integrated with food security and WaSH policies. The Health Development Plan integrates both sector guidelines of the PRSP for 2008– 2012 and the MDGs. Furthermore, nutrition is included in the PRSP and in the Rural Development Strategy. However, in practice, implementation is ineffective. A National Plan of Action for Nutrition (2011–2015) has been developed, with a budget of US$9.45 million.8 The plan includes preventive and curative actions to ‘ﬁght against nutritional deﬁciencies’. However, it is failing to meet its objectives because it has not been approved by the government. The regional level presents important added values and many opportunities to make the ﬁght against hunger more effective. By joining forces with neighbouring countries, governments will be in a better position to address its diverse causes. Government departments

can pool resources, learn from each other and harmonise policies, norms and best practices to treat and prevent undernutrition in a more efﬁcient manner. Household food security is the only causal factor of undernutrition directly related to regional dynamics, and, in particular, the functioning of West African agricultural markets and their ability to provide adequate, affordable food for all. It is here that regional initiatives are most appropriate. For example, interventions which support cross-border movement of cattle in case of scarcity of pasture or which regulate regional food markets and limit price volatility. The ECOWAP regional plan has a key role to play in the regulation of food markets. Some degree of price volatility is unavoidable due to the global nature of markets, but ECOWAP can help reduce this volatility by using a range of different instruments. Also, its support of West African famers and pastoralists can ensure adequate food supply for rural and urban populations in the region and improve the livelihoods and incomes of the rural population.
SUCCESS FACTOR 4

Institutional coordination
Since undernutrition touches upon many different sectors, as outlined in the multi-sector approach above, it is no surprise that a number of different institutions with very different mandates are involved in addressing its causes and providing treatment. Therein lies the challenge; it is difﬁcult enough for institutions within the same sector to implement activities in a coordinated manner. The difﬁculties become magniﬁed when attempting to coordinate institutions across sectors which have competing claims and diverse priorities, and which may have limited budgets. Added to that is the need to incorporate both short-term emergencyoriented interventions and those with a longer-term impact into policies (see ‘Multi-phase approach’ below). Given the potential complications of coordinating activities across sectors and phases (emergency, recovery, rehabilitation, development), governments are most likely to be successful at mainstreaming nutrition and food security if there is a national coordina-

tion council in place. Responsible for drawing together all stakeholders involved in treatment and prevention activities, it is imperative that sufﬁcient and sustainable ﬁnancial (and human) resources are available to maximise chances of success of these councils. It goes without saying that these bodies will also require strong political back-up. If this is the case, states are in a better position to achieve long-term, sustained and scaled-up action to reduce undernutrition. Despite the existence of potential barriers to coordination, Phase 1 found some striking examples of success. Institutional coordination in Peru has been strengthened by the consolidation of nutrition programmes into one integrated nutrition plan. The Interministerial Social Affairs Commission now coordinates 26 programmes in the ﬁght against child undernutrition. Originally encompassing a hefty 82 separate programmes, the Government of Peru fused some programmes and cut others. This drastic slimlining strategy has led to improved efﬁciency and effectiveness, helping focus efforts and resources on the main objectives. Underpinning the Plan Integral Nutricional, is Crecer (which means ‘to grow’), a key intervention implemented at national level by government, cooperation agencies, civil society and private entities.

It aims, by 2011, to reduce chronic undernutrition in under 5s by 9% and reduce poverty by 30%.9 Mozambique has also shown impressive coordination in its own efforts to combat undernutrition. The National Nutrition Coordination Council (NNCC) creates an essential institutional framework or ‘home’ for nutrition at national level. It facilitates inter-ministry collaboration on nutrition policies and programmes and promotes the multi-sectoral approach. While it may have little power to inﬂuence programmatic action, it legitimises nutrition as a national development priority and creates a window of opportunity for nutrition advocates to enter into national level policy debates. The NNCC also lends permanency to long-term efforts to address undernutrition. Instead of coordinating efforts through loose networks and informal coalitions, by working through the NNCC, nutrition advocates can ensure that progress towards improving nutrition is sustained. In comparison with some of the countries studied in Phase 1, Niger lacks essential institutional coordination, which is a prerequisite for mainstreaming nutrition and food security into government policies. The National Food Crisis Management and Prevention Agency (DNPGCA) is the closest that Niger has to an institutional coordination council. However, it focuses

on short-term crisis response, and nutritional issues are not considered a priority. Furthermore, many of the strategies and programmes of the DPNGCA are not operational, partly due to the lack of political will of the previous government, and partly due to issues of ﬁnance – discussed in more detail below. Although a Nutrition Cluster does exist in Niger, it is co-chaired and largely run by UNICEF. If it is to prove effective as an institutional coordination body, the Nutrition Cluster needs to increase its capacity and resources. There is also a need for structural reorganisation within the government if nutrition policies are to be effective and coordination sustainable. In West Africa, it is now widely accepted that ECOWAS should take the lead in designing and coordinating regional interventions. Its member states have shown strong commitment to regional integration, major donors support the implementation of ECOWAP, and a number of memorandums of understanding with UN agencies have been signed. On paper, ECOWAS should be in a position to implement a comprehensive approach to hunger reduction. Furthermore, the specialised health agency of ECOWAS, the West Africa Health Organisation, is in a prime position to act as an institutional coordination council on undernutrition at a regional scale. However, given that individual states struggle to coordinate their own institutions and agencies at the national level, it is not surprising that it will be even more of a challenge for ECOWAS to coordinate its institutions at the regional level. Successful coordination will require sustained long-term political and ﬁnancial support from member states and donors, and will need to be built over time. Despite these weaknesses, the existence of ECOWAS and other regional institutions is an asset for the region. The interdependence of the West African countries and their limited capacity to address hunger on their own, indicate the importance of regional institutions. Strategic coordination and leadership in the ﬁght against hunger through regional institutions will enable member states to follow their own agendas and not be subject to the agenda and goodwill of international donors, institutions and richer countries.

SUCCESS FACTOR 5

Multi-phase approach
The implementation of a multi-phase approach, to address both immediate and longer term needs, is fundamental if the ﬁght against undernutrition is to be won. In countries which have had relative success in bringing down rates of undernutrition, a combination of both short and long-term approaches (including both prevention and treatment) have proven to be effective. Long-term initiatives, such as the enhancement of food production and improving access to employment for the most vulnerable, have been complemented by shortterm approaches, such as the improvement of health services to mothers and children and ensuring access to safe water and better sanitation. With the implementation of its Bolsa Familia programme, now beneﬁtting 12 million families, the Brazilian government has demonstrated that a multi-phase approach can make a lasting impact on the ﬁght against hunger. A conditional cash transfer scheme, Bolsa Familia beneﬁciaries receive cash transfers on the condition that they attend follow-ups on the health and nutritional status of all family members, that all school-age children enrol in school and that they demonstrate satisfactory attendance rates and that the parents participate in nutrition education sessions. Evidence has shown that stunting among beneﬁciary children aged 6–11 months was 3.3% lower than among non-beneﬁciary children.10 This therefore ensures that families have year-round access to food, whilst ensuring that their health and the health of their families and the education of their children is not jeopardised. Community-based Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM) programmes can help communities to respond to food and nutrition crises in the short term, whilst ensuring that health and nutrition are promoted and prevented in the long term. Pilot programmes carried out in Malawi in 2002 by international NGOs helped reach 74% of those in need, compared to the 25% reached using traditional approaches. This model was adopted as a national strategy in 2006 and, by 2009, covered all 27 of the country’s districts.11

In Niger, since the food crisis of 2005, donors such as the EC and UN, and implementing partners, have reached a common understanding and now recognise that integrating a multi-phase approach to undernutrition is essential for maximum sustainable impact. Many major donors have adopted an approach which aims to ensure better coverage of the needs of the most vulnerable in the transitional phase between emergency and development. Rather than just supporting emergency assistance, donors are now more committed to supporting coordination initiatives and accountability, which presents opportunities for inﬂuencing national policies and harmonising donors’ strategies. Efforts are now in place to ensure undernutrition is addressed through a combination of direct urgent assistance and longer-term preventive actions. The National Food Crisis and Prevention Agency (NFCPA) currently leads these efforts at government level. Unfortunately, however, capacity within the Ministry of Health is a major obstacle to success, despite strong commitment and willingness. Perhaps the solution to implementing a truly multiphase approach lies at the regional level. Through ECOWAP, ECOWAS aims to break a meaningless relief and development divide by bringing both long and short-term objectives together into a single policy; something which the international community has failed

to achieve over the past few decades. This is particularly relevant in the West African context, where undernutrition is an endemic plague rather than the effect of disasters. The priorities of the ECOWAP regional plan are to reduce food vulnerability for those populations which are at most risk, whilst ensuring the promotion of strategic products for food sovereignty and the creation of an environment favourable to regional agricultural development. Hunger reduction and food security in both the short and long term are therefore at its heart. Tackling humanitarian and development crises at the regional level has traditionally been driven by international players, including humanitarian donors, NGOs and UN organisations. With ECOWAS taking a more prominent role, the responsiveness, effectiveness and coherence of short and long-term hunger reduction interventions should be improved
SUCCESS FACTOR 6

Continuity of sustained ﬁnancial investment
The importance of continued and sustained ﬁnancial investment from governments and donors cannot be overstated. Without necessary ﬁnancial resources, ministries and institutions which exist to combat undernutrition cannot be expected to function effectively. One-off budget allocations or donations are not suf9

ﬁcient; ﬁnancial support needs to be committed, continuous and sustained if governments and regional bodies are to be able to have a ﬁghting chance at bringing down rates of undernutrition. Significant decreases in chronic malnutrition and stunting in Mozambique over the past ten years have largely been thanks to the 9th European Development Fund (EDF) which invested approximately €35 million in the food security sector and approximately €10 million in the health sector between 2001 and 2007.12 This represents a fraction of the average US$1.1 billion of ofﬁcial development assistance which Mozambique received between 1997 and 2003.13 Around threequarters of this came from bilateral programmes, while the remainder was provided by multilateral institutions (the World Bank, the United Nations and the European Community). Malawi has also beneﬁtted from external funding from multilateral and bilateral donors. Long-term funding programmes (such as the UNDAF and the 10th EDF) have played, and will continue to play, key roles in supporting government bodies such as the Ministry of Health and the Ofﬁce of the President and Cabinet. Bilateral donations have also continued to support efforts to combat undernutrition and hunger such

as USAID’s 2008–2011 programme and DFID’s programme which invested £77.3 million between 2008 and 2009, largely in public health (40%).14 Ranked 182nd out of 182 countries in UNDP’s Human Development Index in 2009, Niger’s recent political strife and recurrent food crises have left the government in no position to provide continuous, let alone sufﬁcient, ﬁnancial support to its health and nutrition sectors. There has recently been a tangible shift in donor priorities: most are now committed to maintaining a longer-term presence. Forty percent of the Nigerien government’s annual revenue is derived from international support; donors will continue to play a key role in Niger’s future.15 Most West African countries fall short of the targets set by the 2000 Abuja Declaration and the 2003 Maputo Declaration to bring health and agriculture budgets to 15% and 10% of national budgets respectively. Despite the recognition that undernutrition is endemic in the region, resources for its treatment come predominantly from humanitarian donors such as ECHO. Continued ﬁnancial support for the ﬁght against undernutrition in the region is likely to continue to come from the international community, rather than from the individual countries in the region. In terms of prevention, ECOWAP

presents a historic opportunity to concentrate signiﬁcant resources and produce important outcomes to reduce hunger and undernutrition throughout the region. Rather than employing the ‘project approach’ to development programmes, which tends to weaken local capacity in administrative and ﬁnancial management, ECOWAP focuses on ‘country-led processes’ and national leadership; funding is estimated to be $900 million for the ﬁrst ﬁve years. ECOWAS has committed $150 million of its own resources and it is expecting international donors to contribute the remainder.16

and nutrition security, and those working to strengthen longer-term resilience of vulnerable households. Support must also be provided to existing regional institutions and mechanisms in place to ﬁght hunger; regional cooperation is integral to this.

Provide long term strategic and institutional support to civil society participation in decision-making processes
Civil society ownership and participation in decisionmaking signiﬁcantly contribute to the development of viable and sustainable policies. Support is needed in order to enhance participation in the policy debate and in civil society’s capacity to maintain government accountability. Ground-based participation in decision-making and governance must be promoted in order to reinforce sustainability of interventions aiming to prevent and treat undernutrition.

Recommendations
Place undernutrition at the centre of the political agenda
Good nutrition is the foundation for human development, and nutrition must be at the forefront of all development and poverty reduction policies. Donors and governments must show strong commitment to food and nutritional security by launching holistic multiphase strategies. Necessary ﬁnancial resources must be allocated for their implementation.

Maintain ﬁnancial support to food and nutrition security beyond the emergency phase
Continued, sustained ﬁnancial support is essential for the ﬁght against undernutrition. Emphasis must be on maintaining food and nutrition security beyond emergency programmes and by providing sustainable direct budget support to national governments. Budget allocation must ensure sufﬁcient resources for programme implementation, bearing in mind the targets set by the 2000 Abuja Declaration and 2003 Maputo Declaration to bring health and agriculture budgets to 15% and 10% of national budgets respectively. At West African regional level, international donors must provide necessary funding to enable effective implementation of ECOWAP; there is currently a shortfall of $750million for the ﬁrst ﬁve years. The success of the programme is dependent on the availability of ﬁnancial resources. Brieﬁng paper by Morwenna Sullivan, Hugh Lort-Phillips and Aline Tinoco

Address undernutrition through a holistic approach
Addressing undernutrition through a holistic approach, involving agriculture, health and water and sanitation activities, is key for long-term sustainable solutions. Tackling undernutrition requires a multi-sectoral, multiphase approach, with a combination of both short and long-term solutions across sectors to achieve impact now and in future.

Strengthen and reinforce capacity and coordination among nutrition institutions
Investment should integrate training and budgetary support, while remaining mindful of balancing capacities between central and local administrations. Existing nutrition institutions must be supported in order to ensure effective institutionalised coordination. Coordination mechanisms must be strengthened between government departments currently involved in food

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Zero Hunger Overview

Description

This briefing pulls together evidence from secondary research in contexts which have had relative success in bringing down undernutrition rates, with field based evidence from Niger, where undernut...

This briefing pulls together evidence from secondary research in contexts which have had relative success in bringing down undernutrition rates, with field based evidence from Niger, where undernutrition is a persistent problem. Combined with analysis of the relevance and potential of the regional approach in the fight against hunger in West Africa, the briefing introduces six key success factors which have been instrumental in the fight against hunger worldwide. The Zero Hunger Series argues that good nutrition is the foundation of human development; it must be at the forefront of all development and poverty reduction policies. It emphasizes the importance of civil society participation in decision-making and governance to reinforce sustainability of interventions. The Series also recognizes that tackling undernutrition requires a multi-phase and multi-sectoral approach implemented through well coordinated institutions. The significance of sustained financial support is also underlined.